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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Writing ABC - A is for Action and many more #MFRWauthor #writing

Not sure this will succeed but I'm going to try and see if I can find one thing for each letter of the alphabet that applies to writing fiction. With a little help from my friends and fellow writers,

A is for Action - Action is essential to a story. We've all read stories when we're pushing for the writer to give us some action. Now my take on action doesn't mean there has to be a car chase or some equally physical bout of fighting. Action can be softer but there has to be some kind of movement. A good argument can be action so can thinking about what has or will happen. The action cam be how one character responds to another and what steps they are about to take. Showing these steps toward reaching a goal can be action even though there are nothing high speed.

Action can also cause problems and to make the reader weary. Some stories seem to be all action. The characters are never allowed to take a breath. Nor does the reader have this respite. They may finish the book totally exhausted mentally and wonder why they chose this author.

Writing love scenes are definitely a place where action enters the equation. I read a book where the active love scenes continued and continued and continued. I found myself skipping pages. to get past the love scenes happening in two chapters out of three. This also applies to other kinds of action. I've read books where the characters argue or discuss heatedly a certain problem. But they do this again and again in chapter after chapter.

So one has to remember Action is important to a story but there are other elements that also unite with the story. One thing I have when I've gotten that rotten rough draft down is to start rewriting and when a segment of the story seems boring, and if it bores the writer, think of the poor reader. Then I know it's time to throw in a little action to make the slow scene work.

What do you think about Action and do you have other things concerning writing starting with A is for...

A is for Adventure and Anticipation - Roberta GrieveAdventure - it's always an adventure starting a new novel. You may have an idea of what's going to happen to your hero and heroine but as the story develops things start to happen hat you hadn't anticipated. Anticipation - that's another A.Never thought of these two. Not only is adventure the start of a new project but some stories are filled with Action and Adventure, What do you think?A is for ArtA is for art. The art of writing. I was pleased when the board for our local Art Hop recognized writing as an art when they included local authors in the festival. Writers don't paint on canvas, but they do create scenes and characters for readers to "see" on the pages of the story. When viewing a sculpture or painting, emotions flood through me--delight, dislike, wonder, calm. Don't we as authors create emotions for readers--love, hatred, wonder, fright, peace? Art is creating and writers do create scenes and emotions, if not in sculpture or wall hangings, but definitely within the reader's mind. J.Q. Rose at http://www.JQRose.com

A is for Antagonist: a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

As writers, we know a good antagonist – call him/her or it villain, nasty character or what you will – are necessary to put in the way of our leading characters getting what they want. An antagonist need not be thoroughly evil. In fact, the more sympathetically they are written, the more real they become rather than just a cookie-cutter villain.

An antagonist need not necessarily be a person, but a character’s alter-ego: good versus bad as in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Or it could be the environment, think movies such as Reese Witherspoon’s Wild or George Clooney and Sandra Bullock’s Gravity. In a fantasy the antagonist could be any type of ‘he who must not be named’ – what fun to create your own version of J.K. Rowling’s Voldemort.

The stronger you make this character, the more blocks he/she puts in our leading characters’ way, makes for a much more interesting and unforgettable read.

A is for AtmosphereRenee SimonsJust think about that classic cliché, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night." Sets up the atmosphere for a mystery or an adventure story and puts the reader in the middle of the scene.

Anti-hero
An archetype that can be traced back to Greeks and Roman literature and theater, but took off in the 19th century as the Byronic hero. These guys are not always morally correct; they usually serve their own interests, and often act as a foil for the hero. In movies, Clint Eastwood's early spaghetti western characters and his later portrayals in movies such as "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven" show a man who is a loner with a past who ends up doing good out of circumstance rather than intention. In modern literature, he is Salinger's Holden Caulfield or Kerouac's Dean Moriarty...or those lovable rakes and bad boys across numerous Romance genres, who are reformed in the end through the love of a good woman.

2 comments:

A is for Amazement. I'm always amazed when a writer can pull me so far into a story I forget about the world outside.

A is for Anxiety.That anxious feeling when you just have to read the next chapter, and the next, etc, to find out what happens to the characters. As writers it's what we all strive for...the ever elusive hook to keep them reading.